Shadow's Hidden Past
by Deathdoesn't-matter
Summary: Shadow is our resident mystery here. Some say he was created as a superweapon, others a cure, and some an andriod. Here's MY hypothesis.


Shadows Hidden Past

Disc: Blah blah blah... Don't own.

A/N: Shadow the Hedgehog, the Sonic verse's resident amnesiac engima. Some say he was created to be a genocidal superweapon for the military. Some say that he was an experiment with immortality. Others, as a testing bed to find a cure for a little girl. Heck, some even think he's an android. So let's see _my_ hypothesis...

**Audio File detected...**

**Reading...**

**Open "Log UCB-79"**

"This is head biologist and project leader, Gerald Robotnik recording progress for scientific purposes."

Gerald cleared his throat. He sounded disappointed somehow.

"It has been long and hard to finally break the walls of the limitations but we have created life with nothing more than base data from a blood donor that shall not be named. We were estatic as the subject began predicted initial fetal... ah... This part is not important and has been previously mentioned in assorted memos."

The sound of papers ruffling, being straightened.

"Rapid growth procedures were successful... subject hit adulthood within a week's timespan. Longetivity agent was administered during sleep. It has halted all aging within our hedgehog's body. Theoretically it should render him immortal, but then again with massive time restraints we won't really know until later."

Something beneath the voice... a hint of something terrible to come.

"During a period of two days all scans of body showed in no abnormal growths or mutations. All medical testing results are well within the upper-limits of green. Subject is very healthy and agile. Increased strength, far beyond what was expected, but myself and the rest of the team could live with that..." A sigh. "...At least we could at that point."

"With green lights all around, we proceeded to awaken the subject with gentle neuro shocks designed to activate all advanced mental processes." A small laugh, as if the biologist were reliving grand times, "He awoke so cutely. With big eyes looking to and fro and using speech, child like words at first, but more complex sentence structure was used later. We unbound him and wrapped him up in a blanket."

"Let me see here..." Papers were flipped through, "Blah... Unimportant... Blah... Ah, here we go. We reported to our company that our experimental 'Ultimate Cuddle Buddy' was going well so far. Apparently there is a high demand for snuggling soft toys out there. What better than a living, breathing, cuddling machine? We all thought we'd get rich off of our ideas."

A pause.

"Subject was well received from eight year old female product testers... A great improvement over our lizard models. God, what were we thinking when we did that? Lizards aren't cuddly at all..."

The click of another tape recorder.

"Here is audio of said first encounter between our experiment and eight year old 'Maria'."

'Play' was pressed and the tape started to roll.

"Well, Maria, you're here to help us decide which of our toys here are the best and funniest to play with." The caring voice of a woman.

"Okay." Maria.

"You see there is a Teddy here... A dolly here... and plenty of other nice toys. But there's still one missing."

"What's that?"

"You'll see. When he enters the room, then you decide which toys you want to play with. Okay?"

"Okay!"

The soft click of a doorknob style door being opened.

"Oooh... Who's that?"

"This here is Cuddle Buddy. Do you want to play with him?"

"Sure!"

"I'll leave you two alone then."

The woman leaves.

"Hello whats your name?"

"Cuddle Buddy." The subject speaking. He is quite shy.

"Oh that can't be your name... How about... Shadow?"

"Okay. What's your name?"

"Maria."

"I wuv you."

A click as the tape is stopped.

"Overall Cuddle Buddy recieved many positive comments. We were all pleased with ourselves."

"That is... before the accident..." He trailed off.

A silent remorseful pause. A sniffle.

"Cuddle Buddy recieved head trauma from a machine that was improperly fastened down. At first, we thought we had lost the little guy. After all, we had never designed the Ultimate Cuddle Buddy to be durable. Especially when it came to heavy machinary crashing down on him."

"But he surprised us yet again by exceeding all expectations. We discovered that he has heightened healing powers. Within a few hours he was up and about again with only one problem. Cuddle Buddy had apparently lost all memory of previous events, referring itself as 'Shadow'. Cuddle Buddy was hostile to all personnel that attempted to bring it back to the infirmary."

"It... all goes downhill from there..."

'Play' was hit again on the tape recorder.

"Hello Maria. Welcome back."

"Do I get to play with Mr. Shadow again?"

"Um... Yes you do. But we think that 'Shadow' is sick. If he appears odd in any way, please inform us immediately. We'll within reach. Do you understand?"

"Yeah." Playful. Unknowing of the oncoming disaster.

The door opening and closing.

"Hell Mr. Shadow! Want to play?"

Nothing but a low growling.

Cuddle Buddy was so not supposed to do that.

"Miss...? Miss!" Little Maria is quick to pick up on the danger.

But help comes too late.

"HELP!"

The door is kicked down as the lady returns with guards.

"Cuddle Buddy! No! Her head isn't meant to do that!"

The child's screams go on.

"My name is Shadow!" A voice filled with malice.

"Ergh! Guards! Stop him! Oh no! Cuddle Buddy! Those are supposed to stay _inside_ her! No don't do that!"

"I AM SHADOW!"

"Oh my lord! Stop him!"

'Cuddle Buddy' snatches one of the guards after finishing with the girl, whose screams have been replaced by the grown man.

Click. 'Stop' was pushed. The recorder was put down.

"What had we done?" The man sobbed.

"Here is the recording of a hypnosis session in our vain attempt to get back the Ultimate Cuddle Buddy. 'Shadow' as it called itself, loathed cuddling. Irony can be a real pain sometimes..."

Click.

"Shadow?" The soft alluring voice of a young woman who has much knowledge.

Faint murmers, "What?" Even in sleep, the Shadow persona was rude.

"Do you know who Cuddle Buddy is?"

"Yesss..." It had a noticeable hiss to it.

"Where is he?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Why not? Shadow, where is Cuddle Buddy?"

"CUDDLE BUDDY IS DEAD!" Shadow was still in a trance, but outburst should be enough to tell you how well the therapy went.

Click.

"With the recent deaths, our company decided to cancel the project. We were unable to put Shadow down, who had found another experimental product, Hoverskates. With his strength, speed, and hatred of cuddling... that was a real balls nasty combo. In addition, 'Shadow' seems to have developped selective amnesia. He remembers nothing of Cuddle Buddy nor why he was created."

"We got lucky however. I myself managed to convince the military that Shadow was not the Ultimate Cuddle Buddy but rather the Ultimate Life Form. They made us rich over Shadow. Transport was at first a problem, but we managed to solve it with a few tranquilizer darts."

"Lord knows what they'll do with him. Probably stick him in a nutrient rich stasis pod. The military doesn't thow _anything_ away..."

**End of "Log UCB-79"**


End file.
